WASHINGTON – A federal court in Baton Rouge, La., permanently barred Ann Williams and her tax preparation firm, Ann's Tax Service, from preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today. The civil injunction order, to which Williams and Ann's Tax Service agreed without admitting the allegations against them, was signed by Judge James J. Brady of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana.

The government complaint alleged that Williams and her business had repeatedly prepared false federal income tax returns that understated customers' tax liabilities. According to the complaint, Williams inflated or fabricated business expenses, reported fictitious business income, and fraudulently claimed the earned-income credit on customers' tax returns. The government suit alleges that Williams's fraudulent practices may have resulted in as much as $2.2 million in lost tax revenue. The U.S. Attorney's Office of the Middle District of Louisiana assisted in the filing of this lawsuit by acting as local counsel.

The IRS lists return-preparer fraud as one of the Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2013. In the past decade, the Justice Department's Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of tax fraud promoters and unscrupulous tax preparers. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department website.